Wednesday, July 19, 2017

10 Questions: Vegan Rockstar with Wendy Werneth

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One of the biggest areas of intimidation for vegans is world travel: how do you
maintain your veganism as you travel? How do you do this without starving to
death or causing an international incident due to your dietary requirements?
Enter Wendy Werneth,
The Nomadic Vegan. Wendy has
explored the globe, stepping down on all seven continents and visiting 100
countries, and visitors to her website all benefit (and get to live
vicariously) from the wisdom and experience she has gained as an intrepid world
traveler. Vegan since 2014 and a globetrotter long before that, Wendy
originally was concerned that being vegan would limit her peregrinations but,
after an eye-opening experiment with Greece convinced her that there was vegan
food under her nose all the time, she has since dedicated her time to becoming
one of the leading voices in world travel as a joyful, not-at-all-starving
herbivore who is spreading the vegan goodwill hither and yon.

Wendy’s newest adventure comes in the form of an e-book (and soon-to-be paperback) where she shares so much of
her wisdom and many of her tips, specifically focusing on 11 cultures and world cuisines
but, most valuably, giving guidance for the mindset and approach that will keep
vegan travelers happily trotting the globe, Veggie
Planet: Uncover the Vegan Treasures Hiding in Your Favorite World Cuisines (International
Travel Guide and Food Guide for Beginner Vegans, Veterans of the Vegan
Lifestyle, and Vegan Travelers). You can download her free e-book, Nine Steps for Easy Vegan Travel, for a
little taste of Wendy’s wisdom but as good a resource as it is, I can promise
you, it will only begin to whet your appetite for what awaits in Veggie Planet. Thorough, generous,
highly readable and replete with great guidance throughout, Wendy’s book leaves
no stone unturned in her passion for unearthing how to eat vegan with grace and
ease across the globe and her enthusiasm for teaching others how to do the same
is infectious. Even if you can’t or don’t expect to travel, there is so much
within that can help people find great vegan world cuisines no matter where
they live. I am honored that Wendy Werneth is this week’s Vegan Rock Star.
Please check out her book!

1.
First of all, we’d love to hear your “vegan evolution” story. How did you start
out? Did you have any early influences or experiences as a young person that in
retrospect helped to pave your path?

I always loved animals, and
as a child I grew up with cats and dogs as part of my family. Our first cat was
a stray who wandered into our backyard while I was playing. I ran into the
house and said, “Momma, there’s a cat outside, and he’s talking to me!” Well, “he” turned out to be a “she”, and so
Thomasina remained a part of our family for many years.

Later on, I dabbled in
vegetarianism, beginning in my first year of college. I would stick with it for
a few months, and then go back to eating animals. I hadn’t really made the
connection yet, and I still had no idea about the horrors of the dairy and egg
industries.

It wasn’t until May 2014
that my vegan journey truly began. I listened to the Food Revolution Summit hosted by John and Ocean Robbins, and for
the first time I heard health experts talk about the benefits of a plant-based
diet. The interview I remember the most, though, is the one with Alicia
Silverstone, who talked more about the animals and about showing kindness and
compassion towards them.

A few days later I picked
up her book, The Kind Diet,
at a used book sale, and over the next few months I gradually transitioned
towards a vegan lifestyle. My final hurdle to overcome was my fear that being
vegan was going to ruin travel.

I decided to give vegan
travel a trial run during a 3-week trip to Greece. On that trip, I discovered
all the delicious vegan dishes that are part of
traditional Greek cuisine,
and I never looked back! I count my veganniversary from September 10, 2014,
which is the day my flight touched down in Athens at the start of that trip.

2. Imagine that you are pre-vegan again:
how could someone have talked to you and what could they have said or shown you
that could have been the most effective way to have a positive influence on you
moving toward veganism?

If someone had shown me
footage from factory farms and slaughterhouses, I would have been horrified. I
think that would have woken me up and forced me to take an honest look at what
I was contributing to.

But maybe graphic images
wouldn’t have been necessary. If someone had just said to me, “If you love
animals, why do you eat them?” then that probably would have made me stop and
think.

It’s hard for me to
understand now how I could have eaten animals for so many years without
realizing what I was doing. I’d like to think that I would have been open to
the vegan message much earlier if it had been presented to me in a way that
could make me see that I wasn’t living in alignment with my own values. Unfortunately,
I never met a vegan until after I became vegan myself. If I had had a role
model to show me that there was a better way, then I think I would have started
down this path at a younger age.

3. What have you found to be the most
effective way to communicate your message as a vegan? For example, humor,
passion, images, etc.?

Passion. My desire to help
animals is the driving force behind everything I do, and I believe that the
passion I bring to my work is what people respond to. Of course, there are many
ways to channel that passion.

Our passion for a cause we
believe in so deeply can sometimes lead to anger when we are faced with injustice
and apathy. But I try instead to bring a positive, welcoming and non-judgmental
attitude to everything I put out into the world. No one likes to be called a
murderer, and people are unlikely to respond well to it.

When speaking to
non-vegans, I remind myself that I used to be one of them, and that I was still
a good person at heart back then, even though I was doing bad things. My goal
is to make veganism approachable and to show that a vegan lifestyle can be fun,
healthy, and extremely rewarding.
4. What do you think are the biggest strengths of the vegan movement?

The vegan movement is
built on the values of compassion and non-violence, and those values are its
greatest strength.

5. What do you think are our biggest
hindrances to getting the word out effectively?

When we fail to apply
those values in our interactions with humans. In order to be effective, we need
to show compassion to non-vegans. Confronting them in anger is never going to
convince them to join our side.

6. All of us need a “why vegan” elevator
pitch. We’d love to hear yours.

If you think it’s wrong to
hurt an animal for your own pleasure, then you’re already vegan at heart.
You’re just not yet living in alignment with the vegan values that you already
hold. Living a vegan life is the single best thing you can do for yourself, the
planet, and the animals you share this planet with.

7. Who are the people and what are the books,
films, websites and organizations that have had the greatest influence on your
veganism and your continuing evolution?

The two people who made it
possible for me successfully transition to a vegan lifestyle are:

I owe so much to them and
am incredibly grateful for their work. Apart from those two women, there are so
many other authors, podcasters, filmmakers, YouTubers and activists who have
educated me and continue to do so. I’ll try to limit this list to just my top
recommendation in each category.

8. Burn-out is so common among vegans: what
do you do to unwind, recharge and inspire yourself?

I get out into nature,
and/or a go for a walk or a run. If I can combine both nature and physical
activity in the form of a hike, that’s when I feel the most recharged. I named
my website The Nomadic Vegan because I really do feel like nomadism is in my
blood.

This is true not only in
the sense that I love to travel and explore new places, but also in the sense
that I feel most at peace when I am walking. I recently walked 800 kilometers
across Spain on the medieval pilgrimage route known as the Camino
de Santiago. The daily routine of
waking up and walking for several hours felt very natural to me, and part of me
wanted to just keep going and never stop walking.

9. What is the issue
nearest and dearest to your heart that you would like others to know more
about?

The
suffering of mother cows and their calves in the dairy industry. While walking
the Camino de Santiago last month, I walked through several small dairy farms.
The veal calves were locked up in cages right next to the walking trail. I knew
about these cages and had seen them in videos, but never in real life.

I reached out my hand
to one of the calves to see if he would let me pet him, and he immediately took my fingers into
his mouth and startling suckling them.
He was desperate for his mother’s milk. Coming face to face with these innocent
babies who are victims of this completely unnecessary industry broke my heart.

If people only knew
how cow’s milk is produced, they would no longer want to consume it. Especially
when there are so many healthier and tastier plant-based milks available.